Have you decided where you will be on December 15th and secured your tickets to this magical afternoon with our nationally recognized Santa, our up to no good Grinch, Buddy the Elf, crafts, treats, professional photography, and more! Join us as we fundraise for children victim to abuse and/or neglect and change lives! We will be checking your name on the nice list at the door! See you soon!
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Today, we celebrate SAMCO’s SIXTH generous donation to Cheaha CASA. When Sam Mousa first reached out wanting to join our fight against child abuse, we were serving roughly 150 children struggling during a pandemic. With great thanks to SAMCO’s continued commitment and support, Cheaha CASA served 382 children this year! Thank you SAMCO for changing so many children’s stories over the last few years. Please, be intentional by doing business with businesses where children matter!
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This week, we were at DHR for an ISP meeting where CASA was invited to join the child’s legal team around a table and discuss what’s in the child’s best interest with the other professionals assigned to the kid.
Sitting in the waiting room, I met a little boy and his foster family waiting on another ISP and a supervised visit he was having with his momma. I offered to help them by asking who their worker was so I could connect them. The foster mom told me the DHR worker’s name, and told me thank you that she was already on her way to get them for their meeting. The little boy became anxious in his seat making sure she knew, “and Vanda is coming, too. Don’t forget Mrs. Vanda is going to be here too. Probably any minute.” His eyes were glued to the door.
The foster mother saw my CASA name tag and asked if I was with CASA, too. Before I could get out of my mouth that I was the CASA on another case at the same time, this little guy jerked his little eyes right around to me and let everyone know, “.. yeah but she’s not Vanda but she will be here because she said she was.”
I giggled and reassured him that I wasn’t taking her place. The time came and his sweet social worker grabbed the family from the waiting room and started them down the hall while she held the automatic locked door open for them.
It wasn’t long before he turned around on a swivel and yelled, “hold that door because Vanda is coming!!”
“Who is Vanda?” The caseworker asked.
“Well that’s my CASA worker. And she’s going to be here.”
Shortly after, Vanda came in on two wheels like she always does. She was able to be a nearby, warm body offering both support and comfort for this mom and child who just need a little help at reunification, and we think our corner of the world is a little bit better for it.
Dozens of more children are waiting on another advocate, and we’re holding the door for more volunteers to join us. This is our weekly reminder that all it takes is one person to make a difference, and we’re thankful this CASA is.
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